When Gary Kirsten fronted the media for the first time as Sri Lanka’s head coach, he didn’t pad up with clichés. He went straight on the front foot, making it clear that the 2027 World Cup in his own backyard is the big ticket item.
This was no airy-fairy lip service. Kirsten, as methodical during his playing days, mapped out the kind of personnel required for South African conditions, quicks who can make the ball talk and climb awkwardly off a length, batters who won’t flinch when the ball spits at chest height. In short, horses for courses, not square pegs in round holes.
That’s vintage Kirsten. Whether with India or his native South Africa, he has built success brick by brick, not by rolling the dice. His coaching mantra could well be: well prepared is half the battle won.
Sri Lanka have 17 months and roughly 25 ODIs to get their house in order. That’s enough time to build a core, provided they don’t keep shuffling the team like a pack of cards. More importantly, the bowling template needs a rethink. For far too long, Sri Lanka have leaned on spin. But South Africa is no place for gentle tweakers, it’s a quicks’ paradise where seamers earn their bread.
Even at home, where the slow tracks of RPS traditionally favour spin-heavy combinations, there’s a case to start backing seam-bowling all-rounders. It may seem like swimming against the tide, but World Cups aren’t won by playing safe in familiar waters.
The last time South Africa hosted the World Cup was back in 2003, a different era altogether. Nelson Mandela was still a towering presence, while across the border, dictator Robert Mugabe ruled Zimbabwe with an iron fist. Kenya, then more than just makeweights, punched above their weight to reach the semi-finals, a fairy tale that now feels like ancient folklore.
Fast forward to today and Kenyan cricket has fallen off a cliff, replaced in the hosting roster by Namibia.
Sri Lanka have a template from that 2003 campaign, one worth dusting off. They made the semi-finals then, and not by accident. It was a well-oiled machine, driven by sharp minds and strong leadership.
At the helm was Hemaka Amarasuriya, a corporate heavyweight who handled off-field storms like a seasoned captain riding out a bouncer barrage. When the ICC’s ambush marketing clause triggered a global player revolt, with Indian stars leading the charge, Sri Lanka’s dressing room too got restless, nudged by Charlie Austin. But Amarasuriya, unfazed, played it late and under the eyes, guiding matters through choppy waters until contracts were signed.
Selection, meanwhile, was in the safe hands of Guy de Alwis, a man who didn’t blink, even when the heat was turned up. When then Sports Minister Johnston Fernando tried to poke his nose into team affairs, Guy de Alwis stood his ground like a batter refusing to be sledged into submission. No excuses, no conspiracy theories that we see these days from selectors, just accountability. A trait that seems to have gone missing these days.
On the coaching front, Dav Whatmore and Duleep Mendis plotted their moves with chess-like precision, while team manager Ajit Jayasekara ensured discipline didn’t slip through the cracks. A senior Air Force officer, Jayasekara was a god fearing man and a gentle soul off the field, but one who could lay down the law when egos within the dressing room threatened to run riot.
Then there was Sanath Jayasuriya, the captain who led from the front, scoring runs for fun and brooking no nonsense. Legend has it he gave his deputy Marvan Atapattu the cold shoulder for a fortnight after a dropped catch off Brian Lara.
Add to that the wizardry of Aravinda de Silva and the raw pace of Dilhara Fernando, whose bouncer famously floored Ramnaresh Sarwan. It was a side that could dish it out as well as take it, a rarity in those days.
Sri Lanka’s semi-final exit in 2003 still stings. They had Australia on the ropes at Port Elizabeth, restricting them to 212, but fluffed the chase despite batting deep. A missed opportunity, no doubt, but the campaign proved one thing beyond doubt: Sri Lanka could hold their own on seaming, bouncy tracks.
Kirsten would do well to note that Whatmore had a strong support cast, men who knew their roles and didn’t drop the ball. The current set-up, by contrast, doesn’t inspire the same confidence.
Still, hope springs eternal. The South African dream isn’t a pie in the sky just yet. After all, Sri Lanka remain the only Asian side to have conquered South Africa in a Test series, proof that when they get their act together, they can punch above their weight.
by Rex Clementine